Take a trip to Val d’Isère at high season for £300 less than the tour operators cheapest deals.

Skiing is a passion of mine and I particularly enjoy skiing in Val d’Isère. It is well known that a ski holiday is not always the best value for money – a couple of years ago I stayed in the cheapest apartment I could find in Val d’Isère and the experience wasn’t pleasant. Even a cheap apartment cost upwards of £600 at the end of the season.

Another problem is that my partner is a teacher and can only ski during the rip-off package hell that is half-term week. Last year I went with her sister during term time, as you can imagine this didn’t go down too well! There are plenty of cheaper places to ski other than the French Alps, but very few of them offer the massive ski areas & après ski that France is famous for.

This year, after looking at the package ‘deals’ and getting more depressed by the minute I decided to investigate the art of the DIY ski holiday. There are numerous websites out there that will help you with organising this, I am only listing those I found most useful to me.

Accommodation

I started by looking for self-catering Ski chalets during the half-term week – big mistake. All the big tour operators have Google tied up with adverts & paid rankings. I found the same overpriced apartments from the same operators again and again. So I applied a little bit of sideways logic.

holiday-rentals.co.uk is a site that lists independently-owned accommodation in Europe and many parts of the world. I figured I might find a holiday cottage that was available in half term that just happened to be in a ski resort – and I found just that.

The owners of these types of places generally stay there themselves during their own holidays, so you’re practically guaranteed a decent quality of accommodation – unlike the other budget fleapits I’ve stayed in over the years. We chose one of Chris Rotsey’s apartments in the end – great looking apartment, only 100m away from a ski lift!

Transport

Take a 5am flight from Gatwick to Geneva followed by a 5 hour coach journey to the resort? I don’t think so. I’ll take the train thanks. More environmentally sensible, quicker & more comfortable by far.

Eurostar Ski Train

This is brilliant.  You book a ticket, you get on the train at St Pancras on a Friday night or Saturday morning and arrive in Bourg St Maurice (gateway to Val d’Isère, Les Arcs, La Rosière, Val Thorens & other resorts) 10 hours later, refreshed or seriously hungover (your choice!).

The only problem with the Ski Train is that tickets can sell out 18 months in advance, especially if you are trying to go at half-term as I discovered.

The alternative to Eurostar

You can get the Eurostar to Paris Gare de Nord, catch the Metro to Gare de Lyon and finally travel on a TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) all the way to Bourg St Maurice. From there you can either hop on one of the scheduled coaches to the resort of your choice, or hire a taxi – if there are 5 or more of you, it often works out cheaper to book a taxi.

Booking tips

• Eurostar releases tickets ‘around’ 120 days before departure & TGV tickets are available around 90 days before departure – ‘around’ means anywhere up to 10 days either side from my experience.
• All the train companies operate an Easyjet-style pricing policy, the prices go up as the availability goes down, so you have to get in there quick – and you may have to gamble.
• When booking the train leave at least an hour to cross Paris (2 hours if you want a croissant en route!)
• To save money, travel during the least sociable hours you can bear – taking into consideration what time you can get in & what time you have to leave your apartment.
• It can be cheaper (it was for us) to stay in a hotel in St Pancras the night before & get a very early Eurostar to Paris the next morning than it is to get a later departure (we got family rooms in the Kings Cross Travelodge for £50 each, sleeping 3 or 4 people per room)

Ski hire & lift passes

You’ll be spoilt for choice for ski hire shops in Val d’Isère; shop around & book your equipment online before you go for some decent discounts. I recommend Snowberry Val d’Isère, who were voted Best ski shop in Europe 2009. They also gave me a cup of tea after I scared myself silly on an ill-advised last run of the day! You can avoid the crushing queues buy booking your lift passes online.

Photo credit

I hope you have a wonderful holiday, wherever you go. I saved nearly £300 each for my group – I suspect most of that will get spent in the outrageously priced bars – no advice there I’m afraid!

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It doesn’t take a genius to know that’s it’s a tough time to find a job at the moment. There are thousands of people seeking jobs, people who have just finished college or university, others who have been made redundant and then of course there is the long-term unemployed. If you are unable to find a job you might think it’s a good time to go travelling, although you might not have the funds and you might not be guaranteed of getting casual work once travelling. In places like Australia or New Zealand most unemployed local people are taking the roles backpackers once occupied. Having said that it’s not all doom and gloom and there are still options out there!

Ski Resorts

If you like snow and fancied a bit of a change this is an excellent time of year to look for opportunities of working in ski resorts. For example Highlife Ski & Snowboard are actively looking for Chefs and Resort Managers in the French Alps. You can also find adverts for more casual positions as well. Although these jobs might not be considered career moves you will have the opportunity to work in a different country and gain some excellent life experience. Another bonus is that you get to go skiing for free!

Bar Work

If ski resorts aren’t your thing why not opt for bar work? Bar staff positions are regularly advertised in Germany and Spain and not just in the summer but all year round. Okay the money won’t be great but the cost of living is a lot lower and you’re sure to have tonnes of fun. Dubai is also another location to consider, the rapid development and the large ex-pat community means that they are often seeking staff to work in bars, restaurants etc. Even in other areas of the Middle East employers are often looking for English speaking staff to work in and manage bars. Not having to pay tax on your income makes working in the Middle East an attractive option.

TEFL

I first heard of TEFL when I was in Australia, admittedly I didn’t know what it was. My friend explained it was Teaching English as a Foreign Language, it’s a perfect job for someone who loves to travel. Not only will you be able to visit lots of new countries and get paid whilst you are there, but it’s also a recession proof job! To compete in the increasingly tough job market people in many (non-English speaking) countries are trying gain a competetive edge by taking on extra English lessons, leading to a demand for more teachers.

To become a TEFL teacher is quite simple, you can complete a course which lasts a month (full-time) or three months (part-time). Once you have passed you can start applying for your teaching role. Positions are advertised on different job boards online as well as in printed press such as The Guardian on a Thursday.

If you successfully complete your TEFL course a completely different world will open up to you! You could literally go anywhere in the world. In Europe there are lots of jobs available, including many in Eastern Europe, Spain and Italy. You could teach English tax free in The Middle East (although you may need a degree for this) and there are always positions available in Central and South America.

The good thing about TEFL is that you can make a career out of it. You could become a teacher trainer or you could end up eventually running a school, alternatively you could just use the job to travel. Each year you can take a new contract and visit new cities.

So with all the doom and gloom out there why not try something different and work abroad?

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